PHILADELPHIA -- Regional leaders and entrepreneurs today announced Philadelphia's first city-wide innovation festival, B. PHL, which will take place October 15-October 17, 2019. Today's media event included a kick-off celebration featuring interactive exhibits by participating organizations.

During the three-day festival, locations around Philadelphia will host experiential workshops, speakers and exhibits that showcase innovation in healthcare, technology, engineering, art, music, film and more. The festival is partnering with and highlighting organizations throughout the region, local entrepreneurs, and individual innovators. Partner organizations include:

• Independence Blue Cross
• Comcast
• PECO
• The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia
• City of Philadelphia
• The Curtis Institute
• Drexel University
• InstaMed
• Jefferson University
• Temple University
• University of Pennsylvania
• Philadelphia Global Identity Project
• Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Visit Philadelphia
• Center for Architecture and Design
• The Science Center

"At Independence, we are proud to be among the organizations in the region supporting B. PHL and helping to position Philadelphia as the East Coast's leading city for innovation," said Daniel J. Hilferty, chief executive officer of Independence Health Group and chairman of the Board of Directors of The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. "Historically, Philadelphia is a region that inspires ideas, supports new approaches and embraces originality. B. PHL will pay tribute to the vision of our nation's first great innovator, Ben Franklin, by reaching across the City of Philadelphia to bring together big thinkers, business leaders, the art and cultural community, and entrepreneurs for our first city-wide innovation festival."

"The B. PHL festival aligns with the City of Philadelphia's goal to advance and promote the city as a place of choice," said Sheila Hess, city representative for the City of Philadelphia. "We are confident that the festival will be an excellent showcase for the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit that exists here. That's why we were thrilled to participate in today's announcement and look forward to working with Independence and other partners to support the festival."

"A long time ago, Ben Franklin, Philadelphia, and our fledgling nation vaulted onto the world stage by advancing the simplest notion of innovation known to humanity – freedom of conscience. And from that freedom came the never-ending capacity for all of us to think, dream, create, and prosper. We believe that now, more than ever, Philadelphia will once again be the leader of innovation in what is now a complex and modern global stage. Our business and civic community is working to propel new enterprises of innovation so that this time period will be remembered as a 'Philadelphia moment.' We intend to trumpet this fact at the B. PHL festival this October," said Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia.

"Innovation is leveraging your unique assets, your differentiators, to solve problems and create opportunities," said Marques Colston, former NFL player, founder and managing partner of Dynasty Innovation, and managing director of the Center for Innovation at Virtua Health. "As I look at Philadelphia and the assets that are here around innovation, higher education, medical and research institutions, the millennial population —Philadelphia is poised to take advantage of this moment in time."

"B. PHL will help show that innovation can happen and is happening in our Philadelphia communities every day – our schools, our hospitals, and our workplaces," said Rui Jing Jiang, cofounder and CEO for Avisi Technologies. "I think the festival will inspire countless people – students, researchers, even large corporations – to take that first step and test some of the ideas that have been incubating in the backs of their minds."

Attendees are invited to purchase a badge that provides access to festival events across all locations, so there is no need to register for individual events. A B. PHL app is coming soon.  Attendees can create their own customized schedule based on events of interest. In addition, for every badge sold, another badge will be donated to organizations around the city to enhance access and equity. A portion of the proceeds will support innovation education in Philadelphia public schools.

The festival name pays homage to a former Philadelphia resident and one of the nation's most prolific inventors, Ben Franklin, who signed his name B. Franklin.

For more information about the festival and to keep updated on the latest news visit BPHLFest.com.

About B. PHL
The three-day B. PHL festival is designed to build the city's reputation as the most innovative city on the East Coast – a true place of choice for those looking to inspire new ideas, make connections, and ignite novel ways of doing things. Locations around Philadelphia will hold interactive workshops, sessions, exhibits and events highlighting innovation in fields like health care, technology, engineering, art, music, film, and more. We're partnering with and highlighting organizations throughout the region, local entrepreneurs and individual innovators including The City of Philadelphia, leading universities and colleges, large and small nonprofits, Fortune 500 companies, and community outreach organizations. To keep updated on the latest news about the festival, such as added participants, locations, tickets and more, visit BPHLFest.com.